"It was John Gielgud who had to push and persuade".
Yeah, Prospero´s Book apparently was Gielgud´s lifelong ambition; wonder what he made of it after seeing the results. Not very sure what to make of Greenaway´s stuff, either - he seems to approach filmmaking more like a scientist and the starkly intellectualist streak often arguably hurts more than it helps (although not as much as it does Godard´s output - I´ve seen 6 of JLG´s films and with the sole exception of Pierrot Le Fou, they´re all kinda dry, hollow and come across entirely self conscious & artificial. At any rate, Greenaway seems much wittier and more imaginative). Of the 4 Greenaway pictures I´ve seen, Drowning By Numbers is the favourite, but again, I have no real idea as to how is all that mathematics supposed to figure in or what the fine print of this feminist fantasy is supposed to be about. I think I´ll need to see it again. The Cook, Thief etc, I found annoying more than anything else. And I was, in fact, unable to get any further than 30 minutes with the aforementioned The Falls as I simply failed to handle all the information and the minutiae blasted forth in huge, overbearing volleys (and you´re gonna be doing an exceptional amount of reading from the screen when you get into that sh-t; maybe it should have been a book rather than a film in the first place). And the f-cker is 3 hours long. No idea who the target audience is supposed to have been. Probably them little overachievers with different mothers.
"What Pacino can do in the role of Lear".
In one of the reviews for Looking For Richards, it was mentioned that Pacino had played Richard III on Broadway in 1979 with "notoriously awful results" - wonder what´s that all about. He´s had his poor performances obviously (in Godfather 3 and Heat, for instance), but I think generally Pacino has not gone off the boil during the past 10+ years (or even eversince the 70´s as some have it) nearly as much as most say he has and he´s been good-to-great in Donnie Brasco, People I Know, Insomnia, You Don´t Know Jack... and he´s pretty much always entertaining to watch (something that cannot be said of De Niro due to his lack of the kind of magnetic showmanship that Nicholson also possesses; when he´s not "on", he´s just boring).
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
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dyahrmarkt
12 years ago
re: Greenaway -
"The Falls" is one of those films I've read a lot about, to the point that I actually thought I had seen it. Then I remembered I was remembering synopses, reviews, etc. Haven't yet mustered up the guts to sit through it, probably never will. There's lots more out there from Greenaway that I could watch - his newest film looks interesting. But you're right - the self-consciousness is utterly overbearing - it's either you're along for this ride or you're not. Greenaway strikes me as the kind of guy who is just on the short side of cracking up - he just doesn't give a whim about appealing to any kind of audience except the smallish one he's managed to generate over the years. He's a man trying to outwit his own subconscious - his films are like him exposing his self-generated maniacal corners he's painted himself in and trying to work out of. If I met Greenaway, would want to ask him if he actually thinks the audience cares even a slight fraction as much as he does. Who the hell else *does* this, or has ever, aside from Bunuel? Actually, Greenaway is more like Dali in that sense, albeit not an avant-garde surrealist as much as evidence of what happens when you give a sexually traumatized math geek a movie camera and a lot of money. Even Lynch keeps his surrealism in the confines of story and character. Greenaway's films are really about him and how he sees the things he's showing us. That said, there's admiration for this kind of artist, an arm's length, cautious admiration in my case.
Re: Pacino -
Al has a number of films coming out - he at least appears to be engaged in wanting to *try* and participate in quality films, as opposed to DeNiro who has completely gone off the map. He actually finished up Lear on Broadway last year and it would be damned entertaining to see him perform live. I'll be content with the film.
Please nest your IMDB page, and respond to the correct person -
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vicky_lc2001-1
9 years ago
I thought he was great in TGF3 and Heat.
You call this poor?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyaDlIirJnw
^^^I call the heart wrenching. I have yet to meet someone not moved by that scene. You're the first apparently.
He was also very good in The Merchant of Venice btw.
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel
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AtoZ2014
8 years ago
I agree that this would be a good one for a high-school English class. I remember seeing James Earl Jones in Othello I believe in high school. I think that was the extent of the Shakespeare though.
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